Information Sharing and Knowledge Sharing as Communicative Activities

Introduction: This paper elaborates the picture of information sharing and knowledge sharing as forms of communicative activity. Method: A conceptual analysis was made to find out how researchers have approached information sharing and knowledge sharing from the perspectives of transmission and ritual. The findings are based on the analysis of one hundred and two key studies characterising the above viewpoints. Results: Information sharing and knowledge sharing represent similar communicative activities when looked at from the viewpoints of transmission and ritual communities. The former view emphasises one-way communication from sender to recipients, and the sharing activity appears as transfer, diffusion or provision of information or knowledge. From the ritual point of view, the sharing activity has been conceptualised in terms of exchange depicting two-way communication between interacting participants. The activities of knowledge sharing have mainly been examined in work-related contexts, while information sharing has also been investigated in non-work contexts. Conclusions: As communicative activities, information sharing and knowledge sharing have more similarities than differences. However, the terminological questions become more complicated if the focus is shifted to what exactly is being shared while sharing information or knowledge, due to multiple interpretations of the concepts of information and knowledge.